What the hell is Barack Obama's presidency for?

[spin]

119. That's a good point....

However a lot of different factors led to WWII.

President Woodrow Wilson had a 14 point plan for Germany's Surrender which the German people liked. Unfortunately the Treaty of Versailles was far more punitive.

The treaty created bitter resentment towards the victors of World War I, who had promised the people of Germany that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points would be a guideline for peace; however, the US played a minor role in World War I and Wilson could not convince the Allies to agree to adopt his Fourteen Points. Many Germans felt that the German government had agreed to an armistice based on this understanding, while others felt that the German Revolution of 1918–1919 had been orchestrated by the "November criminals" who later assumed office in the new Weimar Republic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_II#Problems_with_the_Treaty_of_Versailles

After WWII our nation led the effort to rebuild our enemies with programs like the Marshall Plan and the results were excellent. However, it could be argued that we did so to prevent the spread of the Soviet Union.

In my opinion it also led to the "Mouse the Roared" approach that I fear some nations use against us.

The Mouse That Roared

***snip***

The tiny (three miles by five miles) European Duchy of Grand Fenwick, supposedly located in the Alps between Switzerland and France, proudly retains a pre-industrial economy, dependent almost entirely on making Pinot Grand Fenwick wine. However, an American winery makes a knockoff version, "Pinot Grand Enwick", putting the country on the verge of bankruptcy.

The prime minister decides that their only course of action is to declare war on the United States. Expecting a quick and total defeat (since their standing army is tiny and equipped with bows and arrows), the country confidently expects to rebuild itself through the generous largesse that the United States bestows on all its vanquished enemies (as it did for Germany through the Marshall Plan at the end of World War II).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_That_Roared

So there has to be a balancing act. Admittedly one reason we stayed and rebuilt Iraq was to keep Iran from filling the power vacuum.

Perhaps the best we can do is as little as possible and absolutely necessary and then get the hell out.